A Year and a Day
by themindkiller
Summary: "A year after she discovered she was a clone, Bethany Cole woke up screaming."  A prompt for school, written back in 2009. Picks up about a year after Double Identity left off.


****Author's Note: this was a prompt for school, way back in 2009. (Which is why the writing is sub-par, sorry.) Because of this, if you make suggestions, I will read them, but probably not act on them, because it has been nearly 4 years and I don't really care anymore. ****

_Prompt goes: "Extend the novel in a 1-2 page piece of creative writing. You may either pick up where the novel's action leaves off OR step in after a number of years have passed OR imagine what happened in the earlier life of one of the characters (before the book's action started) OR imagine a scene from the book which the writer only referred to, but did not describe. You could also write from a different character's point of view, write a diary entry as one of the characters, or any number of other creative extensions." _

A year after she discovered she was a clone, Bethany Cole woke up screaming. There was a horrible sound coming from her window. It was the screeching sound of nails scraping glass…no, it **was** nails scraping on glass. Bethany got up slowly and walked to her window. She looked outside. She was on the second story, and how no idea how someone could get to her window…except for the tree. There was a huge maple tree just to the side of her window that could be climbed easily by anyone who wanted to get to her window. She rolled her eyes. "Why am I freaking out?" she asked herself aloud, standing alone between her bed and her window. "It's probably some stupid reporter, trying to get a story." She walked the rest of the way to the window, ready to tell the dumb reporter to scram.

Bethany looked out the window, trying to find the person who was the source of the noise. There seemed to be no one there. "Maybe it was a tree branch," Bethany tried to reassure herself. "Maybe there isn't anyone out there after all." Just to be safe, she checked again. Just as she started to turn away, something jumped into her vision. It was a mirror image of herself, but a little younger, and silvery white colored. So, basically, it was Elizabeth, right around the time she died. "What the…" Bethany whispered, frozen in place. Bethany had always wanted to meet Elizabeth, but Elizabeth was dead. So how could she be outside of Bethany's window now… Just as Bethany finished that thought, Elizabeth opened her mouth in a scream. She looked horrified, frightened, petrified, however Bethany could have tried to describe it in words, the word couldn't have matched the look of utter terror on Elizabeth's face. The sound was so terrible, so horrible, that Bethany closed her eyes and curled up in a ball to protect herself from the awful sound. It seemed that see would scream forever, until suddenly, it stopped.

Bethany opened her eyes. She was in her bed. It was morning. Elizabeth, her screams, and the nails-on-glass sound had all been a dream. She walked downstairs. "Hi, Bethany!" Joss said cheerfully. Even at seven in the morning, Joss was as bright as the new cherry red tablecloth that covered the table they were both eating at. Bethany, on the other hand, was not. "

"Stupid morning person," Bethany grumbled hatefully. Grabbing some Fruit Loops and milk from the center of the table, she quietly began to prepare her breakfast.

"Well that's no way to treat your favorite cousin!" Bethany's aunt, Myrlie, exclaimed came over and yanked the Fruit Loops out of her hands.

"What was that for? I was going to eat those!" Bethany objected.

"No, you weren't. Everyone in this house is having peaches-and-cream oatmeal," Myrlie declared firmly.

Joss groaned. "No way. There is no way I am eating that horrible stuff. Make bacon instead."

"Fine," Myrlie sighed, sounding defeated. Make whatever you want, but I'm not doing it."

Bethany rolled her eyes. For an adult, Joss sure acted like a ten-year-old. There was absolutely no chance of her making bacon.

After Myrlie prepared breakfast, everyone sat down to eat breakfast. After a few minutes of meaningless discussion, Bethany mentioned her odd dream in passing. Everyone went quiet. Bethany looked up, confused. "Today is the fourteenth anniversary of Elizabeth's death," Joss explained. "We are-we were-going to visit her grave today."

"Okay," Looking around the table, Bethany saw that everyone had just about finished eating. "I guess I'll go get ready, then."

As Bethany's father drove down the path in the cemetery that lead to the burial plots of Elizabeth Krull and Thomas Wilker, a light rain began to fall. The car came to a stop a little while afterwards, and everyone got out. Bethany heard an odd noise. This time it was a dumb reporter next to him, there was a shovel and a small pile of dirt. Joss stiffened, clearly angry. Bethany's father started forwards angrily, but Myrlie grabbed his arm. "Take a breath," Bethany's mother whispered softly. No one even realized Bethany had gone to confront the reporter.

"How dare you!" Bethany said in a steely-calm voice. "How dare you desecrate my sister's grave and insult her memory!"

The reporter didn't even flinch. He started rambling on about some research project for a college and Bethany was almost about to scream when he suddenly whipped out a pair of scissors and cut of a lock of her hair. He quickly jammed it into a scientific-looking bag. "What the…" Bethany mumbled, momentarily confused. Meanwhile, the reporter was celebrating. "Yes!" he shouted. "I finally have evidence to prove you a fake, once and for all!" Bethany finally realized what the reporter had really been doing. Joss rushed over to Elizabeth's grave.

"It doesn't look like he got anything yet," she spat, giving the reporter a look of pure hatred. Walter, Bethany's father, walked over to Joss, and looked at his daughter's grave.

"I don't think that he had enough time to dig up…dig up her body." He stumbled through his words. The reporter, momentarily forgotten, ran off. The rest of the visit to Elizabeth's grave passed on without any further problems. In fact, the rest of the day went by without a single problem. Everything was going wonderfully. Until the next day.

The next morning, everything went wrong. It began when Bethany looked at the paper. "Oh no…oh no, oh no, oh no…" her voice shook as she repeated the words.

"What's wrong?" Joss asked from behind her. "I called Bridgie yesterday to make sure no more reporters try to get at Elizabeth's grave."

Bethany shook her head. "It doesn't matter, Joss. It doesn't matter anymore. Nothing matters anymore."

Joss looked up at Bethany, confused. "I don't understand, Bethany; what do you mean?"

Bethany turned towards Joss. "They know. The reporter, he…he got proof, somehow. He must have gotten some of her…some of Elizabeth's…" Bethany's voice trembled. "They did a DNA test." she said finally, handing Joss the day's paper. "They proved I'm Elizabeth's clone."


End file.
